The report quoted Kota Kinabalu City Hall Director-General Joannes Solidau as saying some house owners in the residential area where the first locally transmitted Zika case was reported were still refusing entry to health teams.

“We don’t know why some owners or house occupants at Taman Public Jaya Apartment are refusing entry to our teams to conduct checks for mosquito breeding areas.

“We have no choice but to seek a court order,” Solidau was quoted as saying.

A 61-year-old man who lived at the apartment died of heart complications last week after contracting Zika.

Solidau said checks would be extended to 775 premises within a 400 metre radius of Public Jaya Apartment.

In Klang, where the first case of Zika was reported, authorities are facing a similar problem.

Klang Municipal Council (MPK) Secretary Adi Faizal Ahmad Tarmizi was quoted by The Star as saying : “Many residents are not willing to cooperate with enforcement officers from the council, by ignoring or not answering their door bells.”

He said the lack of cooperation could be because residents were afraid the officers might impose a fine on them if they found mosquitoes breeding in their homes.

“MPK will only issue a notice for first time offenders, pending a second visit,” he assured.

Earlier this year, the Terengganu State Government faced a similar problem with residents who refused to entertain health officers, at the height of a dengue outbreak in the state.

State Health, Women, Family and Community Development Committee Chairman Muhammad Pehimi Yusof was quoted as saying that the authorities would check all private land and premises which were not maintained, regardless of whether or not there was permission to do so.

He reportedly said that “aggressive” measures were needed to contain the dengue situation then.